Local officials fight to keep AirTran flights here

NEWPORT NEWS — Local leaders said Monday that they plan to lobby Southwest Airlines to maintain flights at the Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport once its acquisition of AirTran Airlines is complete.

"Norfolk has Southwest and we have AirTran, so obviously this is a tricky business," said City Manager Neil Morgan.Ken Spirito, airport executive director, said it's too early to tell, but he likes the market position that the Newport News airport is in.

"We're a viable and profitable market," said Spirito, pointing out that the airport has increased routes over the past several years. Fifty percent of the passengers using the Newport News airport fly on AirTran, Spirito said.

"It's going to send big shockwaves throughout the airline industry," Spirito said of the acquisition. "We're confident that we will continue to have a low-fare carrier, whether it's Southwest or some other carrier."

Spirito said he plans to talk with Southwest officials in the coming months. He didn't want to speculate what other carriers might come in if Southwest were to leave Newport News.

Officials have time to make their case, because the purchase will probably take six months to a year to complete, Spirito said.

"They're not going to make rash decisions about routes," said Councilman Bert Bateman, who sits on the airport authority board. "We have time to meet and let them know what routes make sense for our ridership."

ValuJet, the precursor to AirTran, began service in Newport News in 1995. The Norfolk and Newport News airports vied for Southwest service in 2001 -- and Norfolk won. Newport News airport officials spent three years wooing

Southwest, but the airline ultimately decided to operate out of Richmond and Norfolk, saying at the time that it could better serve its customers from those two airports.

Despite being spurned by Southwest, the Newport News airport expanded during the last few years, including this year landing Frontier Airlines, with routes to Denver.

While cooperation with South Hampton Roads leaders over Southwest's future is a possibility, both Bateman and Morgan agreed that the two airports are also competitors. Morgan said it's difficult to know what that will mean with Southwest taking over AirTran.

"There's no question that there is competition for customers between airports in Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News," Morgan said.

Bateman said airport leaders will work on persuading Southwest to keep the AirTran routes and possibly even expand the routes. "Our job as the airport commission will be to market these routes for our airport," Bateman said.

Bateman said it would make sense for Southwest to keep profitable routes, and the routes out of Newport News have turned a profit for AirTran.

"I feel like one of the reasons (Southwest) bought AirTran was due to the profit opportunity in smaller markets," Bateman said.